1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to an arrangement for and a method of simulating vertigo in on-ground training of pilots to overcome in-flight vertigo.
2. Description of Related Art
Many pilots experience vertigo, i.e. the illusion of a false position in flight in the mind of the pilot. Since vertigo can lead to a flight emergency, the art has proposed screening pilots to test their likelihood of experiencing vertigo. Drugs to alleviate airsickness are also employed as temporary cures. Educating pilots in the nature and mechanism of vertigo is also useful, but, since experience is often the best teacher, training by actually simulating vertigo on the ground is the most effective technique.
Vertigo can be simulated on the ground by electronic, chemical and thermal techniques. However, such invasive techniques are objectionable. In addition, it is known to strap a pilot in a rotary centrifuge where the pilot is rotated at high acceleration and speeds. However, this does not realistically simulate in-flight conditions. Some training simulators employ screens on which in-flight moving scenes are displayed, but experience has shown that this has not proven to be altogether satisfactory.
Vertigo also can be simulated on the ground by an opaque enclosure and an artificial environment, such as said by Crosbie et al (U.S. Pat. No. 3,732,630), Wachsmuth et al (U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,128), etc., but all of these inventions can not creating vertigo very well. The main reason is as follows:
(1) The shape of the enclosure was not defined on a best design. The past inventions always used spheric or hemisheric enclosure, or the shape of the enclosure was not exactly defined. Different shape of the enclosure well cause different effect of creating vertigo. Therefore, in my invention, it is defined that the enclosure must be spuare (or cubic), because the square (or cubic) enclosure has a best efficacy for creating vertigo.
(2) In the past inventions, the organization and design of the artificial environment always not good for creating vertigo, therefore they can not get a good efficacy for creating vertigo, even some of these invention needed a very expensive cost for built the apparatus, such as the two U.S. patents induced by us above. Therefore, in my invention, I make a good organization of the conditions, including the lighting, inflating of seat cushion, half-opaque-half-light-transmising canopy, etc. In my artificial environment, I well defined each of these conditions into a best situation and defined a best time arrangement. Therefore, even I used many conditions and apparatus which have been used by other inventors, but on the cause of I make a good organization and good defining of their parameters (situations), the efficacy of creating vertigo of my invention is much better than other inventions and patents.
For got these key points, I spent at least 7 years on a series of tremendous studies.